Nautical Birthday Cake

How cute is this birthday cake?! It was made to match a nautical themed birthday party. I love the simplicity of this cake, but sometimes simple cakes are the hardest to make because there is nowhere to hide flaws!

The bottom tier featured the birthday boys name in crisp white set on a navy blue cake tier. There were fondant ropes, made using a clay extruder, strung around the entire tier.

The middle featured an anchor I made using a custom cookie cutter my husband printed using his new toy: his 3D printer. I have to say, it took time to design and plan the cutter, but it was really cool, and now I have the shape for future use! The life savers were made out of thick pieces of white fondant wrapped with thin red strips of fondant.

This steering wheel was also made using a custom cookie cutter that I designed and my husband printed on his 3D printer. It would have been really tough to cut out such a perfect shape using a template.

The blue and white striped number cake topper was the perfect finishing touch to this cake! Happy 3rd Birthday Aiden!